Kerala minister gets bail in SMS case

THODUPUZHA: Kerala Water Resources Minister P.J. Joseph Saturday appeared before a court here and secured bail in a case filed by a woman alleging she received several blank SMSes from a mobile that was traced to Joseph.The summons was issued by the Thodupuzha First Class Judicial magistrate court and Joseph was asked to appear before the court Saturday based on a complaint filed by Surabhi Das.Das had filed her petition on March 18, ahead of the assembly elections and Joseph had begun his campaign to contest the Thodupuzha assembly seat in Idukki district.The court before asking a case to be registered had taken statements from officials of BSNL - the service provider for Joseph's mobile phone.After coming out from the court, Joseph refused to make any comments, saying the case is sub-judice.The court also allowed Joseph's petition that he be exempted from further appearance in the court when the case is posted.Incidentally, Joseph had to resign as minister from the V.S. Achuthanandan cabinet in 2006, a few months after the new Left government was sworn in, following a case of his misbehaviour with a woman on board a flight from Chennai to Kochi.At that time, Joseph headed the Kerala Congress (Joseph) party which was an ally of the Left Democratic Front.In 2009, a Chennai court exonerated him in the case, following which he returned to be a minister in the Achuthanandan cabinet.But in 2010, he quit the cabinet after his party merged with the Kerala Congress (Mani) an ally of the Congress-led United Democratic Front.